Work Text:
“This is chaos, Tom,” Paula mumbled with a smile as she stood in the doorway leading from their kitchen to their garden. Tom could only nod in agreement as he watched the men, who delivered their new masonry barbecue and placed the necessary parts all over their garden. It was to be assembled on location and Tom had offered to give them a hand together with Max. Father and son stood on the patio now, their bare chests already tanned after a summer spent outside.
“It’ll look great once it’s done, though, Mum,” the teenager grinned with excitement, already eager to prove - not only to his dad - that he was willing and able to help.
“I hope it does,” Paula winked at him before she breathed a kiss on Tom’s cheek and padded back inside where Emmy was braiding Sophie’s hair much to the delight of the little girl.
***
“Oh, here comes another set of helping hands,” Tom grinned while he knelt on the floor and looked at his little boy toddling across the lawn. The two men from the barbecue company chuckled at the sight. Dressed in his ‘Bob the Builder’ shirt and with his tool belt wrapped around his little waist, Max came running towards them before he fell around his father’s neck.
“Hello there, buddy. Did you come to help us? You even brought your own tools, eh?,” Tom laughed, holding Max in his arms. The boy shyly hid behind his arm when he realised that there were two more men beside his daddy and brother who he didn’t know at all.
Lovingly, Ben ruffled through his little brother’s hair before his attention was once more focused on the assembly of their barbecue. Together with the two craftsmen, he built the foundation for it while Max and Tom looked on. Meanwhile, the little boy wiggled in his father’s arms, struggling between his shyness and his eagerness to help.
Once the foundation was finished and left to set for a while, Tom got the twins’ wooden bricks from inside. “Look what I’ve got here, Max. Shall we build our own barbecue, you and me?” With a smile he knelt down again by his son’s side and the toddler climbed onto his Daddy’s lap. “Yes,” he beamed, already picking up the first few bricks from the bucket.
“Alright, we’ll need your hammer and we might also need your saw, hm?,” Tom mumbled, lovingly, and while the other three took a break from their arduous work, he played with his little one.
Focused and with his small tongue sticking out between his teeth, Max went on to build his own barbecue. Eagerly, he hammered and sawed and with the help of his father it didn’t take long until he had finished the foundation of his mini-barbecue. Proudly, he smiled at the others who admired his work openly.
“That looks amazing, Max! Well done,” Ben grinned. Max gleamed with happiness and soon enough he toddled off again, his hammer still tightly in his hand, to tell his Mummy all about his work.
Tom chuckled, when Paula joined them soon after, their little boy pulling on her hand, babbling on about his “be-be-cue”.
“That is fantastic, Max! We won’t need the big one anymore now that you’ve build one for us,” she grinned, crouching down beside her son. Looking at Tom, Ben and the others she added with a smile, “There’s some food waiting for you inside and some refreshments. You must be hungry by now.”
“That’s very nice of you, Mrs Hiddleston, thank you!,” one of the men said and after a wink at Max, who giggled, they walked off towards the house.
“You know, Max, now that you’re so good at building stuff…maybe you could build me a tree house,” Ben laughed, picking up his little brother to tickle and cuddle him.
Relishing the sound of their children’s laughter echoing through the garden, Tom looked at his wife. “Actually, a tree house is a good idea. You know, for you and me to escape to every now and then,” he chuckled but Paula only rolled her eyes with a smirk.